In a decade, obscure tunnel board bled $1.3 million on overhead, but where's the underpass?

About every 15 minutes, trains block a busy corridor in the near west suburbs — a problem so frustrating that state officials created a special board to oversee construction of a tunnel or bridge.

That was nearly 12 years ago. The agency has yet to move any dirt but spent more than $1.3 million on consultants, cars and rent while turning to taxpayers for more money to finish studying the project, the Tribune has found.

The obscure West Cook Railroad Relocation and Development Authority has covered salaries for an executive director, two project managers, a project liaison, a financial adviser, attorneys and accountants.

One consultant was given a $400-a-month car, and tens of thousands of dollars were spent on rent.

Two board members designated as secretary and treasurer were paid $6,000 a year, despite a three-year stretch during which they met for less than four hours total.

All of it was basically to push for one major construction project on the border of Bellwood and Melrose Park. So far, the authority has overseen preliminary studies on what to build — a tunnel — and how to build it. But even the preliminary work is not done.

The mayors of Bellwood and Melrose Park declined to answer questions about much of the authority's spending even though they have a hand in appointing the board and their towns have provided the money for administrative salaries and overhead.

Others who have been closely involved with the project declined to comment, couldn't be reached or have died.

New authority

The intersection of 25th Avenue and the Union Pacific line has been a traffic and development headache for decades. More than 90 trains chug across the busy road daily, often at a crawl as they pull in and out of the vast Proviso rail yards.

One recent morning, a 20-minute blockage was quickly followed by a stalled freight train that put a chokehold on traffic for at least another 45 minutes, even blocking two police cars with emergency lights flashing.

"This is the worst railroad (crossing) ever," utility worker Jim Burkart declared as he waited for the train to move. "This is almost … a daily thing."

Lawmakers created a small government in 1999 to do something about it.

The authority first consisted of Bellwood and Melrose Park officials appointed by the governor on recommendations from the mayors. Later, Maywood officials were added, along with a mandate to fix problem crossings in that town, but the authority has yet to study them.

The concept stemmed from an ultimately successful board that built an underpass at Grand Avenue in Franklin Park. State Rep. Angelo "Skip" Saviano, R-Elmwood Park, pushed to create both boards and said the Grand Avenue board hired only lawyers, engineers and construction firms, not multiple consultants and advisers.

"We didn't have any overhead," Saviano said of the Grand Avenue authority.

Overhead spending started immediately for the West Cook authority.

Since 2000, the authority has reported spending about $1.3 million in contributions from Melrose Park and Bellwood on administrative expenses, while using about $1.3 million instate grants for feasibility and engineering studies.

Spending started early with layers of administrators but has tapered off in recent years as officials pleaded with the state for more money to wrap up an initial engineering plan.

One of the board's first actions was to hire Gary Marinaro as executive director at $24,000 a year. Briefly a lawmaker in the early 1990s, he had recently lost his long-held post as the local township Democratic committeeman.

Constantine Stamatakos, former Melrose Park public works director, was hired as a project liaison to local businesses. His pay: $27,000 a year plus payments of $396.78 a month on a Ford Taurus. He died in late 2005 and was not replaced.

By law, the seven members of the board couldn't pay themselves, but they could appoint a secretary and treasurer from their ranks and pay them. And they did, tying $500 a month each to the posts, costing roughly $120,000 over 10 years. Records show the board met sometimes just twice a year for as little as 15 minutes.

Two project managers were also hired. One was a Chicago-based planning firm that eventually resigned in 2005. The other was a small firm run by suburban rainmaker Anthony Bruno — a consultant and heavy campaign contributor over the years to mayorsin Melrose Park and Bellwood.

Bruno's firm was paid nearly $80,000 in 2009 even though he pleaded guilty in February of that year to tax fraud. The authority paid its project managers $540,000 over the last decade, financial reports show.

On top of it all, the authority paid about $35,000 to attorneys and $51,500 for a financial adviser — former Bellwood administrator Roy McCampbell. The Tribune revealed last year that McCampbell was pulling in nearly half a million dollars for various duties tied to his suburban post before retiring in 2010.

No records

Despite the various levels of management, records for the authority are lacking.

The authority didn't provide detailed spending receipts from before 2005. And yearly financial statements weren't created until last year, when a new project manager realized state law required them.

The authority also says it can't produce a lease for office space from 2000 to 2002 that financial statements show cost $108,000, or $30,000 to $40,000 a year. The authority first operated from an office building in Melrose Park but moved to space in the town's Village Hall, for which it paid $8,970 a-year.

Answers about why the overhead and extras were needed also are lacking.

Bellwood Mayor Frank Pasquale and Melrose Park Mayor Ronald Serpico declined to take questions and instead issued statements. Pasquale has been mayor since 2001 and Serpico since 1997.

The board chairman for the authority's early years, Ralph Salvino pointed questions to the project managers. He said the board spent what project managers said was needed to get the job done.

"The board members, basically, really didn't have anything to do with it," Salvino said.

The project managers and the executive director, Marinaro, couldn't be reached. The former financial adviser declined to comment.

Marinaro has been "inactive" with the authority for more than a year because of medical issues, according to the board secretary — who declined to answer questions herself.

The new project manager is Peter Tsiolis, Bellwood's chief of staff. He said he couldn't address any questions about spending before he came on board in 2010.

Pasquale was appointed to the board in early 2005 but didn't address the authority's spending in a statement that said, in part, he "inherited the authority as it was structured and staffed" but has since "streamlined the operation."

From 2005 to 2009, though, the authority paid for an executive director, a project manager and a financial adviser while also paying the treasurer and secretary.

Serpico issued a statement that characterized himself as an outsider to the authority's operations.

"The board members … must work in the best interest of taxpayers and accomplish the objectives given to them without delay," he said.

Theproject has hit delays.

A 2003 feasibility study settled on a tunnel to alleviate congestion, saying it would cost slightly less than $30 million. The price tag has since risen to nearly $50 million, if the tunnel can even be built.

More money

Red flags were raised early about the way local officials wanted to dig the tunnel, employing a mining technique not often used in Illinois or with the site's relatively loose soil.

A 2006 soil study found the site had "urban fill" up to 13 feet below the surface consisting of "gravel, cinders and building debris," ground not considered optimal for tunneling under railroad tracks carrying trains.

State transportation officials wanted more information, saying the initial tests didn't alleviate fears the tracks could come crashing down. It wasn't until 2009 that another round of soil testing was finally completed, but state officials say they still lacked the required analysis.

The board said it needed more money for that and embarked on a campaign to obtain an extra $250,000 from the state. Don Harmon, a top Senate Democrat from Oak Park, was one of the lawmakers to pen a letter asking for more money last year.

"This project is too important to ignore," Harmon wrote to the state's transportation chief.

Harmon said he was unfamiliar with the authority's spending details and declined to comment on the Tribune's findings.

The $250,000 came through this year, and the authority's new project manager said engineering is on track to be done around year's end, without the overhead.

"We still think it can be done without the layers," Tsiolis said.

Tsiolis said his firm will not be paid by the authority. The firm has a $900,000-a-year contract to run Bellwood.

Marinaro remains executive director, but Tsiolis said there are no plans to pay him. And the board secretary and treasurer haven't been paid since 2009 — though they are still on the books to each make $6,000 a year.

Once engineering is completed, Tsiolis said, the authority plans to try to tap another $12 million from the state while seeking federal funding to cover the rest of the $50 million.

Pasquale even met with U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood last year to advocate for the project, Tsiolis said.